LOW-NOISE DRAINAGE: A SPECIFICATION DETAIL THAT MATTERS
Wavin AS+ offers acoustic comfort in Irish residential and mixed-use projects
Peace and quiet in a building are usually associated with protection from the sound of neighbours, traffic or other external sources. Yet one of the most persistent and overlooked sources of disruption can come from within the building itself. Wastewater moving through pipework, vibration from brackets and rattling services can quickly undermine the sense of quality and comfort in a space.
That issue is particularly relevant in multi-occupancy buildings. Apartments, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, student accommodation and mixed-use schemes all place drainage systems under heavy and irregular demand. In these environments, acoustic performance is not simply a technical consideration, but part of everyday comfort and wellbeing.
Ireland’s housing output is increasingly focused on higher-density dwellings. The Central Statistics Office reported 36,284 new dwelling completions in 2025, up 20.4% on 2024. Apartment completions rose faster, increasing by 38.7% to 12,047 units. Momentum continued into the first quarter of 2026, with 7,856 new dwellings completed, a 32.9% increase on Q1 2025. Apartment completions in Q1 2026 were 2,355, up 33.3% year on year.
For specifiers, this presents an important challenge. As more people live, work and recover in multi-storey buildings, internal services must support quieter, healthier spaces. Good acoustic design should therefore be considered early in the project, rather than treated as a remedial issue after installation.
Wavin AS+ is an advanced soil and waste system for wastewater and internal rainwater drainage in buildings, delivering superior noise reduction, enhanced performance and rapid installation. Building on more than 30 years of Wavin AS development, it provides a low-noise soil and waste system for apartments, residential homes, schools, universities, hospitals, hotels and offices. The system is also suited to internal rainwater drainage in gravity-fed systems, where heavy downpours can create significant noise over a sustained period, making it important to mitigate this for the building’s occupants.
AS+ addresses sound created and transmitted by a typical internal wastewater or rainwater drainage system through the use of high mass and wall thickness, low elastic modulus and specially designed brackets. This allows the system to minimise airborne and structure-borne sound, while its unique material composition, compact design, sculptured spigot and patented self-lubricated blue seal are intended to support long service life and easier installation. The blue seal significantly lowers the force needed to push pipes into fittings, which is useful in confined or awkward spaces.
Building Regulations TGD Part E 2014 deals with sound in buildings. Regulation E1, Table 1 stipulates the sound insulation performance levels required for compliance with Part E. In practice, this makes service noise an important specification issue where bedrooms, patient rooms, hotel rooms or study spaces sit close to drainage runs.
For design teams, the benefit of AS+ is not simply the product itself, but the ability to model acoustic performance before installation. The Wavin SoundCheck tool simulates soil and waste acoustics using project-specific parameters including wall construction, room dimensions, shaft type and drainage system selection. Developed with specialist acoustic engineering input, it considers both airborne and structure-borne sound, allowing designers to test how changes in specification can support a target acoustic performance.
Wavin AS+ is available as a system with pipe diameters of 50/110/160 and 200mm and fittings including branches, bends, access components, adaptors and low noise brackets. BIM Revit content supports coordination, giving consultants and contractors an accurate representation of how the low noise piping system will be installed within their project.
Recent AS+ projects for soil and rainwater applications include Four Park Place, a luxury office development in Dublin 2; The Crown Star Hotel, a new-build 177-bed hotel in Galway city centre; Anner Castle, a heritage project in Tipperary; and Abbott Longford, a new pharmaceutical plant in Longford. The diverse nature of the projects listed above indicates the broad spectrum of application requirements for low noise soil and rainwater systems.
As Ireland delivers more apartments and complex multi-occupancy buildings, comfort standards will increasingly be judged not only by layouts, energy performance and finishes, but also by what occupants do not hear. Specifying Wavin AS+ from the outset helps project teams meet regulatory expectations, improve acoustic comfort and deliver quieter, higher-quality buildings.
For more information about Wavin AS+ see wavin.ie or contact projects.ie@wavin.com
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Michael McDonnell Managing Editor of Irish Construction Industry Magazine & Plan Magazine
